Blaze: A Mutant Girl's Story
by Chaotic Jinx
Summary: Kirra is returning to Xavier's Institute. She is no longer the angsty teen with issues and a lame power. She's now all grown up and has the teaching position to prove it. But life with the X-Men is never easy or dull; will she make it through her first year? Or will the crazy life at X-Manor crush her? OC/? Pairing, slow burn, plenty of action in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Blaze: A Mutant Girl's Story.

Intro: Kirra is returning to Xavier's institute. She is no longer the angsty teen with issues and a lame power. She's now all grown up and has the teaching position to prove it. But life with the X-Men is never easy or dull; Will she make it through her first year? And will living with the team change her for the better or worse?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel or familiar. I just own my characters and plot.

A/N: Well it's been a long, long, LONG time since I published anything. But I've had this story floating around my head for years and decided it's time to get it out of my head. There will be violence. And Drama. And some romance here and there, the 'who' will remain a surprise. Input is appreciated!

NOTICE: I updated this chapter! It's mostly a section at the end to the people who have already read this chapter, so you can just skip down to the bottom, if you want. This is a work in progress and NO where near good, let alone perfect, so sometimes I might go back and edit chapters. I was trying to wait until I had chapter three finished, but I figured some sort of updates were better than none. So yeah…. Anyways. Enjoy, and please review, it helps me work out what is ok and what is terrible.

. . . .

Kirra Granger stepped over the threshold of the doorway and paused to gaze around the entry hall. The mansions grand architecture was both breathtaking and reassuringly familiar. It had been seven long years since she had lived within these walls. So much had changed since then.

"Move it or lose it!" A gruff voice barked from behind.

Kirra grinned, once upon a time that voice terrified her, now it was reassuring to hear Logan growling orders at her once more.

"Charming as always Logan." Kirra threw over her shoulder and stepped aside.

"Oh my, you do enjoy living dangerously." The second speaker added with a chuckle, bringing up the rear.

"Well like you said, I have grown up."

Logan and Hank had picked her up from the airport. Apparently they drew the short straws.

"That's fer' damn sure." Logan added eyeing her up and down.

The last time Kirra had been here, she had been a fifteen year old punk-goth hell-raising exchange student from Australia. She had looked even more ridiculous then she acted. Now she stood as a mature young adult who had filled out in all the right places. Her dyed hair was carefully styled and her piercings were reduced to a more tasteful number. Her clothes looked less like a homeless-hooker and more like a real grown up. Sure she still had she own flare as evident by her trademark knee high lace up leather boots, but the blue skinnies and black band t-shirt were far less extravagant then her previous outfits consisting of tulle, fishnets, corsets and lingerie.

"It's good to be back."

"It's good to have you back. I'm glad you took my offer to teach."

"Professor!" Kirra turned to see Charles Xavier wheel through the archway, adjacent to the doorway, Ororo Munroe at his side.

"Storm! Oh my god, I love the hair!" Kirra added.

"Thanks Kirra. I like yours as well" Storm ran a hand through her recently shortened hair.

Kirra dropped her bags and raced forward to embrace Ororo and then Charles respectively before quickly backing away and retrieving her things.

"Why didn't I get that greeting?" Logan muttered sarcastically. Hank elbowed him.

"Once you get situated, if you would be so kind as to join me in my office? Logan, Hank, I'll trust you both to help Kirra find her new room?" Charles was giving Logan a pointed look. The feral mutant rolled his eyes and started stomping up the stair case.

"C'mon!" He called back.

"It is good to be back." Kirra repeated meaningfully.

"We are glad you decided to re-join us Blaze." Ororo smiled serenely.

Kirra started. "Wow, I haven't heard that name in forever."

"You'll get used to it. After you madam." Hank gave her a mock bow towards the stairs. She grinned and bounced forward to catch up to Logan. Who knew what he would do with her things if left waiting?

The pair instantly fell back into chatting and catching her up with the schools changes, the team's roster, and a bit of idle gossip.

"So I heard Scott and Jean got married?'

Logan growled.

"And it was after Jean died and came back. Do I even want to know?" Kirra added pointedly ignoring Logan.

"Oh yes, it was a dramatic affair, I shall have to tell the tail later perhaps." Hank replied thoughtfully. "Ah, here we are."

They arrived at her room. Kirra looked around with a gasp. "Is this a teacher's room?"

"Well when we re-built the school two years ago the Professor added to the estate and extended all the rooms, I apologise as its one of the few left unoccupied." Hank replied.

"You mean this is one of the crappy rooms?!"

"Well I wouldn't say that, but yes it is indeed one of the smallest." Hank answered.

Meanwhile Logan dumped her bags beside the four poster bed. The French windows with a love-seat were closed to the night air. The ceiling was so high she almost missed the delicate ceiling paintings. Her built in cupboards to the left were almost a walk in and her en suite bathroom was the size of a normal bathroom, all sleek white tiles trimmed with black. The entire thing was overwhelmingly magnificent.

"Try not to paint these walls Bug." Kirra turned to Logan, his words impacting close to the heart. She had rebelliously painted a mural on her old dormitory walls years ago, much to the annoyance of Xavier and the amusement of Logan. And 'Bug' was his old nickname, short for 'Firebug'. It used to annoy her so much when he called her that. Both memories came rushing back.

"Wow. I forgot."

"Forgot what my dear?" Hank asked distractedly as he carefully placed his load of luggage by her bed.

'I forgot you were all like my family' she wanted to say, but bit her tongue. "I forgot how much I missed this place." Kirra said instead. Too many feelings made her uncomfortable, so she pushed the overwhelming emotions chocking up her throat aside.

"Well this place missed you as well, dear Kirra. We shall leave you to get settled. Do you recall the way To Charles' office?"

Kirra blinked the tears she was ignoring away and dropped her bags. "No. I'll deal with this lot later if one of you could show me the way now?"

Logan grunted something about 'Danger room session' and wondered off.

"Well I suppose I have the pleasure of escorting you." Hank chirped. Kirra smiled. It was strange the way that all of these people had so suddenly switched to treating her as an adult. The last time she had seen the X-Men she had been an anarchic teenager full of angst and mischief. She had been treated as such. So for Kirra the sudden adjustment was both welcome and strange.

"Thank you Hank. That would be awesome."

Kirra was glad she asked for an escort, the mansion was akin to a maze and she did not feel like being lost her first night within the walls. It set a bad precedent. Xavier met with her and went over specifics like her new schedule, classes, curriculum and any extra duties that were covered as being a teacher at his school. Kirra was extremely glad her powers didn't allow the Professor to skim her mind because then he would see how nervous and intimidated she was by all of these new changes. It was only two weeks ago she was an unemployed University drop out who had not completed her teaching degree and had just broken up with her boyfriend. As a consequence Kirra had been forced to take a job in a crappy kitchen because her scholarship was cancelled.

Now she had a high paying teaching job overseas at a prestigious private school, which also housed one of the world's super hero teams, the X-Men. Her stress levels were all over the place at the moment.

"Now is there anything you would like to enquire about?" Xavier asked when they had reached the end of their briefing.

"Yeah, just quickly: Why did you give me a job at all? I'm not technically qualified to teach." Kirra asked in a rush. Xavier smiled.

"How long have you wanted to ask that?"

"Since you first called me with the offer."

Xavier chuckled at her bluntness. Kirra was a straight shooter, she didn't mince her words. He appreciated her honesty since he couldn't read anything off her without permission or causing her pain. (A natural side effect of her powers.)

"It is my belief you are more than competent for the job. Formal qualifications are not necessary as technically if that were the case you would be one of the few who had any official higher education."

Kirra's eyes bugged.

"Do you really think Logan attended any formal institute to become a teacher?'

Kirra snorted. "Yeah, I suppose. But that's not an answer. Why me? "

"Why not you? You are well suited for the position."

"I'm not exactly the most powerful mutant, let's face it I'm a glorified lamp."

"You sell yourself short Kirra. The ability to control all forms of light is not a very common mutation."

"It's also not particularly intimidating when facing down bad guys; hence why I declined your offer to join the X-Men. But besides that, I'm also not the smartest mutant in the world or the wealthiest, or the best connected or any of that. There are people out there more qualified than me and I don't understand why you would want me here over them."

Xavier steepled his fingers in his familiar pose.

"I asked you to come because I believe it is both what you and the school needs. We have the highest amount of students in our history and we needed to extend the staff. You showed signs of being well suited to teaching even back when you attended seven years ago. You're recent studies can attest to all of that. You are also highly resourceful, creative, intuitive and work well under pressure. It is also within the schools best interest for the safety of our students, that I higher teacher's from within our mutant community, preferably those which we already know. Frankly it's because I trust you. Thus you were near the top of the short list."

Kirra sat back shocked. She couldn't believe it. All these years she had thought that the X-Men had forgotten about her brief stay with them. She had been at the school for only a year and they had so many students come and go she had believed she was just another face in the crowed. Kirra was suddenly touched that Xavier had kept her in mind all of this time, especially in the face of her recent personal issues, Xavier's timing couldn't be better. She had always thought fondly of her friends at the institute, and even kept contact with some of her former class mates. However it was hard to stay in touch online for so long without seeing each other, so they had inevitably drifted apart. To hear that people had missed her was heart-warming. She seemed to be having a lot of these moments since she returned.

"I don't know what to say, other than thank you for thinking so highly of me."

"But of course. The X-men have always been a family to anyone who needs it, and we are happy to see you come home. Now if there is nothing else?"

"There will probably be a million things I need to ask later on, but for now I'm good."

"Excellent. Well then I believe it is dinner time. If you would be so kind to join me I can re-introduce you to the rest of the staff."

"Sounds perfect, I forgot I was hungry."

"Well we can certainly fix that, I believe Mr. LeBeau cooked tonight."

"Is Remy living here now?"

Xavier gave her a pointed look she missed, as the pair headed out. He didn't need to be a psychic to see how interested Kirra was all of a sudden. "Yes, he joined the team three years ago when he started dating Rogue."

Kirra's shoulder's slumped slightly.

"It was a shame when they broke up, however thankfully Remy decided to stay with us."

Kirra's shoulders visibly straightened again.

Xavier indulged a smile.

"Well that's cool, him staying I mean. Not the tumultuous relationship part."

"Indeed. Here we are."

They had arrived at the teachers' kitchen. Really it was the adult Kitchen, because not all of the X-Men were teachers at the school.

"Everyone, I would like to welcome our newest staff member, some of you may remember Kirra Granger?"

As Kirra rounded the corner the room exploded with sound.

"SURPRISE!"

Kirra stood stunned for a moment. A room full of people she new and some she didn't all standing around with drinks in their hands. A 'Welcome Home' banner strung up along the far wall emphasised the point. Jubilee had provided a round of fireworks as well. Kirra felt that damned emotion threaten to choke her again. People didn't do things like this for her.

"Seriously?!"

They laughed, she laughed.

She didn't even realise until now she had been missing them so much.

Yup. She was definitely home.

. . .

Much Later that night, in the Professors office….

Charles Xavier sat opposite his two dearest students, Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Both currently occupied the plush brown sued couch positioned under his office window that overlooked the basketball courts. All three were watching images and files flick across the screen on the wall to his left. Security footage from a dingy looking medical room showed them images of a raid S.H.I.E.L.D conducted on an illegal testing facility.

"Professor, are you sure it was a good idea to bring Kirra back? Isn't this putting her in more danger?" Scott spoke up as the screen went blank.

Xavier sighed heavily, before pressing a button on his desk. Moments later the screen folded back into the wall and an original Henry Martisse 'Bouquet of flowers in a white vase' painting took its place.

"Bringing her here was not my first plan Scott, but it was the only one that would keep Kirra's family and friends out of harm's way while also giving her the best protection imaginable under our roof."

"I agree with Charles. You are right Scott, we risk bringing her to the attention of these mad men, but with our files being leaked, these psycho's could potentially already know who she is. With her here, she has a fighting chance. With her home in Australia, we have very little hope of protecting her." Jean added. Her hand grasped Scott's, imploring him to understand. Scott sighed heavily, the safety of a staff member weighing him down.

"I know you are both right. I just don't think I could live with myself if she came to harm BECAUSE we brought her here."

The professor smiled comfortingly. "Scott in all these years, I hope you would be able to trust my judgment. Trust me when I say; this is the safest place for Kirra at the moment."

Scott sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face, while Jean rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I do trust you, Professor, I just don't trust the rest of the world. I hope you are right."

. . . . .

A/N: Ta daaaah! I realised that I needed a little foreshadowing so added this. Who spotted some references? Well, let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Intro:** Kirra is returning to Xavier's institute. She is no longer the angsty teen with issues and a lame power. She's now all grown up and has the teaching position to prove it. But life with the X-Men is never easy or dull; will she make it through her first year?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything Marvel or familiar. I just own my characters.

**A/N:** I won't always have such fast updates. I'm on break at the moment so I have extra time. Thank you to all of my reviews, favourites and likes. I LOVE YOU ALL! This story might be dragging a bit now, don't worry, it's about to pick up after this chapter. Let me know what you all think, I do so love feedback!

NOTE: Oh look, I updated this chapter as well! Once again, the majority of the changes are at the end of the chapter if you have already read this. Thank you for everyone's patience! Hopefully I will have chapter Three up within the week… hopefully.

. . . .

Light poured through the parted curtains, caressing the sleeping woman's figure. The grey fingers of dawn sun had just begun trickling into the luxurious room when a blaring alarm started going off. Kirra grumbled sleepily and rolled over to hit snooze. Five minutes later she repeated the process. The third time was the charm and the young mutant finally stretched languidly and yawned.

"Alright, alright, I'm up."

Silence.

"Who the duck set me alarm to 5AM!?"

Kirra growled and re-set her alarm, then lay back down.

SLAM!

"Rise and shine Bug! We got work to do!"

Kirra peaked open an eye to see Logan in her doorway.

"The hell?"

"Danger room. Ten minutes. Let's go."

Kirra growled and rolled over. "I'm a teacher now, _Badger_, I don't need a wake-up call and I don't need a danger room session, especially on my day off when I have jet-lag."

There was a silence. Kirra thought he must have gotten the hint. Especially when she used that old handle 'Badger' he hated so much. A moment later her lovely warm doona was ripped away.

"Mean!"

"Up!"

Kirra turned to glare. "Ok this is stepping on some serious personal and professional boundaries. I'll say again: The hell Logan?!"

"And I'll say again; Danger room. Ten minutes."

Kirra grumbled and grudgingly sat up.

"Logan, I'm not your student, I'm not an x-man, what possible reason do you have to drag me out'a bed at this unreasonable time, and barge in here making demands of me before I've even had my coffee?!" Kirra was border line pissed by this point. She hadn't seen or heard from the man in the better part of a decade, and now he was barrelling into her room as if he was still her personal trainer. Who the hell did he think he was?

"You may not be an x-man, but you're still a member of this faculty, and that means you gotta be evaluated power wise to help place your extracurricular activities and duties. Besides, if you're awake enough to be all articulate then you're awake enough to get dressed. I say again: Up!"

"And why did no one mention this little evaluation before now?!" Kirra demanded as she stood on wobbly legs and hobbled across her room to her bags that still lay unpacked. She had left it as a job to do over the entire weekend, which she had intended to use to recuperate before classes started Monday morning.

Logan chuckled. Kirra turned to glare at him through her chaotic bed hair.

"Must have slipped my mind."

She glared harder.

"Besides, I wouldn't wanna miss welcoming you back in my own personal way." Logan finished with an evil smirk.

"... I hate you."

"Yeah, yeah. See ya' down stairs in five Bug."

"You said ten minutes!"

"You shouldn't have wasted time flappin ye'gums!"

A moment later he was gone leaving Kirra to rummage through her bags.

"Sonova-"she muttered. Since she had only arrived yesterday, Kirra only had her personal workout gear. She remembered the ridiculous uniform she had been given as a student, with the yellow and blue stretchy fabric. That had been one thing she was happy to leave behind. Now she pulled on black knee length yoga pants with purple piping up the side seams, a sports bra, her black skins singlet followed by a loose razer-back singlet in black over that. She dug around until she found an old pair of black and white nike joggers. It took her a few more minutes to quickly swipe at the smudged mascara under her eyes before she walked out her door.

Kirra made it to the end of the hall and down stairs before she realised she didn't know how to get downstairs to the Danger room.

"Freaking wonderful."

She turned and headed towards the kitchen, hoping to find someone, anyone. Luck was with her, because Kitty Pryde sat yawning over a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, buddy ol' pall o' mine!"

Kitty looked up with a sleepy smile. "Morning. I didn't expect you to be up this early, especially after last night."

Kirra smiled humourlessly. "Yeah neither did I, someone decided it was a good idea to do an evaluation at the crack of dawn."

"Would that someone happen to be Wolverine?"

"Why yes indeed it was. He hates me."

Kitty laughed. "He missed you!"

"Sure he did. He barely knew me. Anyways can you show me how to get down stairs, I'm all turned around in this 'new' mansion layout." Remembering back to her student life, Kirra new from experience Logan didn't like to be kept waiting. But she was a grown up now, so she had nothing to be afraid of, right?

"Sure, no problem. I know I got mixed up a few times when we first came back."

Kitty led Kirra out the door and down the hall. Before she knew what was what, Kirra was on an elevator that was hidden in a wall heading downstairs. Kitty had opted to stay upstairs to finish her cereal.

Kirra quickly threw her unruly white blond and purple streaked hair up into a high ponytail. She was mid-yawn when the doors opened with a soft whoosh.

"Mornin'bell chere!"

Kirra squeaked. The lights flickered.

"Wasa matta? Cat got your tongue?" Remy stood leaning on the wall by the elevator looking positively smug. Kirra glared. Why the hell was he so chipper so early? With a wave of her hand, the light steadied, with a barely there pink hue now.

"Unless you brought coffee you can stow it Cajun." Kirra might have been slightly grumpy and embarrassed at being startled. Maybe.

"Awwww, sorry chere, no coffee. Remy is here to escort you to de danger room. Like ol' times! Someone gotta let you in, de Wolverine an Psylocke started going at it once ah left!"

Kirra relented and allowed him to link arms with her as he began to bounce down the hallways dragging her as he went.

"I am getting a bizarre sense of déjà vu right now..."

Kirra paused and gave him a piercing look. His red on black eyes met hers. He was wearing an all-black body suit with a yellow X across the chest with his trademark boots and trench coat over it. Kirra almost missed that ridiculous pink get-up he used to wear. His auburn hair flopped in his eyes haphazardly. His usual angel's smile spread across his face, his 6"1 wiry frame towered over her own 5"6 self. This moment they were having was a mirror memory of the first day Kirra ever came down to do her first evaluation. Remy had been waiting at the elevator door just the same, had perceptibly seen she was in an awful mood and he had done almost the same thing to cheer her up. The memory had been long forgotten until now.

"Were you waiting for me?"

"Maybe chere."

Kirra gave him a sly sideways look and met his perpetual flirtatious smirk.

"Yeah right. You just back in, or are you just getting up?"

Remy laughed. "You were always a quick one chere. An' if you must know, I was jus' getting up. I'm an upstandin' do-rihg' model-citizen now, dat gets up at de crack of dawn to work out an' prepare my lessons an' what-not."

"They let you teach here? Jeez, now I'm not so flattered about being hired."

"Ack! My heart! Yer aim is just as good as the last I saw ye'."

"But seriously, what are you doing down here at this ungodly hour?"

"Training o'coarse."

Kirra gave him another look as they reached the danger room door. Remy ignored it and put in his pass code, without letting go of his hold of Kirra.

"We gonna have to get you a new code before days end."

"Yes, I have a meeting with Hank at 10AM to sort all that. But more importantly I'm going to need to get me some coffee before mornings end."

The door slid open and Remy quickly dragged Kirra down.

"MERDE!"

"DUCK ME!"

A purple energy blast had lodged itself in the spot where they had been standing. It dissipated a moment later.

"Alert. Code Name: Gambit now entering Danger Room with Guest."

Kirra stood slowly, casting a wary eye around the room, an image of a back ally of some sort dissolved back into the floors.

"Hay! Watch it Betsy we got a new kid here!" Remy shouted.

"Ok, I'm awake, Jeez." Kirra muttered, feeling stunned. If Remy hadn't of wrenched her out of the way, she would probably be heading to the medical bay now. She didn't like how close that had been.

Kirra took a shaky breath before stepping forward. Now that the room was back to being plain white the two figures that stood at its centre were now revealed. The Wolverine stood, with several rips in his uniform and his cowl down. He hadn't changed a bit. He was still short, stout and burley. His muscles were currently flexed and bulging from the sparing. With his cowl down and his trademark scowl in place, Kirra could finally agree with her former class mates about him being unconventionally attractive. That didn't change how irritated by the man Kirra currently was. First he dragged her out of bed, while she was jet-lagged, now he tried to kill her for her efforts? Rude.

A deep violet haired woman stood across from him, facing the door. Her fists were glowing with the same purple energy, which soon faded. The unfamiliar woman was tall, busty and stunning. She was very slim and athletic and built like a swimsuit model as many of the X-women were. Kirra guessed at first glance she was of Japanese descent, although it was hard to tell.

"Apologies." The woman called out. Her navy blue uniform was little more than a one piece swimsuit with thigh high boots, matching gloves and a red sash. It was still pristine without a scratch. Kirra couldn't help but admire how perfectly she was pulling it off.

"Ye late." Wolverine snapped.

Kirra held up her hands in surrender.

"You're wrong."

"Scuse me?"

"Late would imply that we had a scheduled appointment. Which we don't."

"I said ten minutes, it's been fifteen." Wolverine grouched, clearly losing patience. Remy gave her a smirk and ambled back out the door.

"Au revoir! Remy catch ya'll later. Go easy on her eh Wolvie? Betsy, wanna grab some grub?"

"Sounds delightful. We can finish this later Logan."

The woman, Betsy, let her finger tips graze Wolverines shoulders as she passed him. When she sauntered by Kirra the pair made eye contact. Purple gaze meeting hazel. A prickling sensation that Kirra associated with telepaths tickled along her skull. Kirra frowned. It felt strange yet oddly familiar and as always Kirra was grateful for her powers strange side effect of naturally blocking telepaths.

"It's good to see you again Blaze."

Kirra started.

"Yeah, you too." She replied confused. She had never met this woman before. She reminded her of a former X-Men Captain Britain, from her past stay at the mansion. The doors shut behind the pair, the sounds of Remy flirting and the woman's amused laugh instantly cut off.

"Who was that?" Kirra asked turning back to Wolverine, who was watching her intently.

"Elisabeth Braddock. Betsy."

"What? But she-"

"Psylocke suffered a bad case of dying and a body swap as a result. It happened not long after you went home."

"Are you freaking serious?"

"Yeah, we've had some weird stuff happen these last couple of years. You'll get used to it."

"Probably not. Anyone else die and come back that I should know about?"

Logan flashed her a wolfish grin. "Anyhow, we gotta see where you're at. You look out'a shape, so let's hope you've kept up with yer powers."

Kirra glared, "Did you just call me fat?"

"Danger Room, Code Name: Wolverine, Bravo, Oscar, Sierra, Sierra. Run Program: Assessment level one, stage one."

"Please tell me that gibberish is code for: Kirra can go back to bed soon."

Wolverine smirked. Again. Gym equipment including free weights, a tread-mill, a pull up bar and a free standing bike amongst other things materialised.

"Oh goody. This should be fun." Kirra grumbled sarcastically.

"Most definitely. Let's get started."

"Yaaaaaay…"

An hour and a half later Kirra landed flat on her back slightly winded. She was completely exhausted. Kirra had made a point over the last year to get back into being active. She jogged, did Yoga as well as various dance classes. As far as she was concerned, Kirra was in pretty good shape. That was until the Wolverine put her through her paces and utterly shattered she self-confidence. She had not done any kind of martial arts in a long time, nor his militant like cardio and strength training since she last attended the school.

"Ow…" She gowned and looked up to see Wolverine reach down to help her up. "We must be done. Please tell me we are done?"

"Yeah, that'll about do it. We need to work on your strength, cardio, reflexes and stamina, your flexibility is good though. Control of ye power as well. But we really gotta push to get your hand to hand up to scratch, especially without an offensive power."

"Gee. Thanks. So basically everything."

"Yeah, pretty much. C'mon, better get you some breakfast before you pass out, we can work out your training roster, might have to stick you with some of the new recruits."

Kirra felt her hackles raise as the pair made their way out of the danger room, down the hall and into the elevator. She was just about ready to punch Logan if it weren't for the fact it would hurt her more. Stupid adamantium. And her cardio and strength was just fine thank you very much!

"I must have missed the fine print in my contract stating I needed training."

Logan just chuckled "Don't worry, it's free of charge."

The growl Kirra let out had Logan raising an eyebrow.

"I'm serious. Look I indulged you this morning as a curtesy. But I'm not a student anymore and I have control over my powers now. As I said before, I'm NOT an x-men, nor am I the phys-ed teacher, so really my personal fitness is none your business."

Logan chuckled again, much to Kirra's irritation.

"Well Bug, it don't much matter what you want. While you may not be an X-men, it's in ye best interest to polish up ya skills. We still attract a lot of dangerous characters and situations. The country may not be going on a mutant hunt any more, but it still aint safe fer mutants neither."

"Look, I don't mind working on my self-defence, I always enjoyed that anyways. It would be cool to be able to do flips again as well. But I'm not doing six days a week at the crack of dawn like we used to as teens ok? Once, maybe twice a week should be fine. After coffee. And with ADULTS. If you want me fit, YOU get me fit. Don't try and stick me with the newbies. I deserve that at least."

Logan grumbled but eventually agreed to three days a week, and he would try and keep her out of general classes, but explained with everyone's schedules it might end up being impossible. Kirra hated the compromise but figured in the end a little more exercise in her routine couldn't hurt her, or her hatted muffin-tops. And as or training with students? She would adapt, like she always did.

The pair made it upstairs and headed to the teacher's kitchen. Even though it was still early, there was already quite a few people up. Hank sat by the window with Betsy. Kitty and Remy were nowhere to be seen, but a bleary eyed Jubilee sat across from the hulking form of Piotr. As Kirra moved to the counter drawn by the smell of fresh coffee, which was her current number one priority, there was a loud BAMPH and the smell of bad eggs filled her noise. She had a moment to process before-

"Mien liebchen! It haz been too long!" Strong slim arms with strange hands suddenly grabbed and squeezed Kirra and lifted her off the ground. Kirra let out a squeak.

"Kurt! You scallywag! Put me down, I talked to you last night!"

With a final squeeze, the blue furry mutant released her, beaming into her face. Kirra had been one of the few that never flinched when first meeting him, it had left a lasting impression and the two had been good friends in the past.

"Ja, but I didn't get to see you long. You were tired. Come, we shall have breakfast and you can tell me about your evaluation!"

"She did good elf. She'll keep."

"Jeez, does everyone know about it? And what happened to 'needing work' then?"

Logan gave her a measured look. "I was tryin' te be nice. Ok fine, she sucks. Happy?"

Kirra squawked her indignation while Logan sat with his own coffee. But Kirra couldn't really complain. He was right, compared to him and all of the X-men she did suck. She was little better than your average human.

Soon enough, Kirra sat munching on peanut butter and banana toast with her own coffee. The few people in the kitchen were happy to chat and bicker. Kirra was just glad to finally eat something. She sighed contentedly, despite it only being 6.45AM, Kirra found herself enjoying the pleasant company and well-earned meal. After all, it had been a long time since she was able to sit with these people, and like many things at the institute, Kirra had missed this.

She knew the peace never lasted around here, so she pulled out her phone and took a few selfies with everyone while they tried to eat. Laughing Kirra enjoyed paying back Logan for the wakeup call and started posting some photos to her Instagram, tagging her sister and friends. They all knew who the X-Men were and could hardly believe she was going to work with them. She got a pic of Logan, still in his uniform and mid-bight of his eggs, while swiping at Kurt, who stole a piece of bacon using his tail with the cutest evil grin on his face. Half of Jubilee's face was in the frame and you could see her laughing hysterically.

'Nightcrawler likes to live dangerously.' Was her caption. Her sister was a massive Wolverine fan and would find this hilarious. One of these days she would have to introduce her real family to her second family. For now, photos would do. And using them to annoy the hell out of her surrogate family would keep her entertained.

. . . .

Much later, that afternoon, once again in the Professors office behind closed doors:

Professor Charles Xavior once again sat patiently waiting in his familiar position behind his desk. His two oldest students sat on his timeless rich brown suede couch reading over report files on their own respective tablet about their latest staff member. Jean, the faster reader, was the first to look up.

"Well this is all VERY interesting Charles!" Her smile radiated her usual enthusiasm. Scott shifted beside her, trying to speed up his reading. Finally he looked up.

"Yes it is. But what worries me more are the latest reports from Director Fury. Are you still certain bringing Kirra here was the best idea? I feel like we are risking more than we are gaining." Scott replied, his shoulders were in his characteristically stiff 'I'm-a-worried-leader-that-carries-the-weight-of-the-world' posture and his mouth was set in a grim hard line.

The professor smiled reassuringly. "While I agree, you must remember that Kirra agreed to come of her own volition. I genuinely wanted her as a staff member. She is invaluable to us for many reasons. She is good with the students, she is a great teacher, and she is a very bright and enthusiastic young mutant that connects easily with many different types of people. Also her control over her power is quite remarkable. I have never encounter a mutant with such precision and control so early on in their life."

Scott raised a sceptical eyebrow. "No offence intended professor, there is no denying Kirra was meant to be a teacher and she has always gotten along well with just about anyone. But she's not exactly a power house. I don't really think her control is the best. Adequate, yes, certainly, but not the best. Logan tested her this morning, and while she hasn't declined since she left, she has made very little progress."

Both the Professor and Jean shared a knowing smile. It irked Scott to his core.

"What?"

Both looked to him and their smiles grew.

"What?! What are you smirking about? You know I hate it when you do that Jean!" Scott snapped. His wife knew how to push his buttons.

"Aw, loosen up Slim, we're just teasing." Jean laughed back.

"Yeah, ok fine. But what are you guys not telling me?"

The Professor steepled his fingers. Scott glared at how smug he made the action look. Finally he relented.

"Scott, Kirra has been living in Australia for the past seven years. While recent laws have passed giving mutants equal rights, there is still a lot of prejudice in the community. She has lived in constant paranoid suspicion of everyone around her. As such she doesn't completely trust anyone."

Scott raised his hands in annoyance, looking to the ceiling in a beseeching manner.

"That's super interesting, but not really answering my question and not really different to the majority of mutants living here."

Jean giggled again.

"What he means, Scott, is that Kirra was holding back her powers. Logan's evaluation, Hanks medical exam and some background research revealed several very interesting things. It turns out that she can do a lot more then when she left. You're right, she is not the most powerful mutant. But damn, she just might be one of the most creative when it comes to her powers."

Scott sat up straighter. "Really? What can she do?"

Charles smiled mysteriously. He was sure Kirra's addition to the mansion would be interesting to say the least.

. . . . . .

I'm going to start up a point system for those who can pick up all my references. I have some EXTREEMLY obscure general, pop culture and Sci-fi references. As well as some historical x-men/marvel stuff. I can't wait to see what people are getting. Teehee.

Also, sit tight, things are about to speed up.

Also, also, did anyone like my 'auto correct' swearing at the beginning? (Duck instead of the F bomb?) It's something I've started saying, because I swear like a trooper and these days I interact with a lot of underage people at work so I have been trying to curve my potty mouth. Plus yelling "DUCK ME!" at the top of your lungs is downright hysterical to me… I'm not sorry either lol.


End file.
